SAN ANTONIO — Hard times are not supposed to fall on families of Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterbacks.

But for Jim and Jill Kelly, tragedy struck when their infant son, Hunter, was diagnosed in 1997 with Krabbe disease, a rare genetic disorder.

Doctors said he would not live past age 2. He hung on until 8. And their marriage suffered in the meantime.

In the ordeal, the Kellys say, they discovered a new life of faith. Jill Kelly will share that story as the main speaker for Women of Joy, a national Christian women's conference starting Friday at the Convention Center.

“My initial reaction was, 'Wait a minute. This is Jim Kelly's son,'” she said of hearing the diagnosis. “What do you mean? We're a celebrity family. We can go anywhere in the country. We can go to a different country. We can pay. In my mind, all those things I had banked on in the world were empty. ... The beauty of that is, because all of those things were not going to be our saving grace, I asked, 'Where do I go?'”

An estimated 3,500 women from across the region are expected to gather for the inspirationally themed program. Other speakers will include Kay Robertson from A&E's “Duck Dynasty” and Chris Tomlin, a renowned worship leader.

A similar event, Women of Faith, is set for Oct. 11 and 12 at the AT&T Center, just one week later, underscoring the growing popularity of female-oriented Christian conferences designed as spiritual mini-retreats for moms, daughters, career women and homemakers.

The conferences can be light-hearted but delve into serious topics, such as depression, weight gain, relationship strife and self-value.

“I like to say that Women of Joy is women who talk to women in the language of women,” said Phil Waldrep, conference founder and a Southern Baptist minister based in Alabama. “The issues they are facing, whether it's in their careers or marriages or their children or life in general, it's just good to come away and build their relationship vertically with their heavenly Father but also horizontally with women who struggle with the same things.”

Usually after her talks, Jill Kelly greets everyone in a line formed near the stage. It's what she looks forward to the most, she said: listening, praying and talking to women. At such times, she's not only the wife of a famous football player who took the Buffalo Bills to four Super Bowls, she's the mom whose two daughters are freshmen in college and high school.

And she's half of a restored marriage after her husband sought forgiveness for infidelity and the two coped with losing their son.

“We're happier today than we've ever been,” said Kelly, who with Jim Kelly founded Hunter's Hope Foundation. “Our son is in heaven and we didn't get the healing miracle. But we did, because our family is healed.”